Passing the buck will not work

July 18, 2008


Passing the buck will not work


According to the UN Refugee Agency and the International Organisation for Migration, almost five million Iraqis had been displaced by violence in their country, the vast majority of which had fled since 2003. Over 2.5 million have vacated their homes for safer areas within Iraq, up to 1.5 million are living in Syria, and over one million refugees are living in Jordan, Iran, Egypt, Lebanon, Turkey and Gulf states.
The Iraqi government says that 1.2 million Iraqis were displaced before the US-led invasion and ouster of the Saddam Hussein regime because of government repression and economic hardships. Naturally, one would assume that most of them returned home after the regime was toppled. However, that does not seem to have happened. That would mean that at least six million Iraqis belong to the category of displaced, whether inside or outside the country.
The UN secretary general's representative, David Shearer, is calling for a national policy to deal with the issue, and the Iraqi government, represented by the minister of immigration and emigration, says efforts are under way to find a permanent solution for emigrants and displaced people's problems.
It is unlikely that there would be any early solution to the problem, which is compounded by security fears. Even the heavily fortified "Green Zone" in Baghdad is exposed to security risks that require a major effort that is a heavy drain on the strength of the US military occupying Iraq.
The Iraqi government say it has managed to bring back 10,000 displaced people to their residential areas, in addition to helping 5,000 physicians to return to Iraq. The figures sound simple, but even Shearer says that they cannot be heavily relied upon. The government has also warned that warned that it can’t accommodate large numbers of returns. Most of those who returned were subsequently displaced again.
The campaign of violent "ethnic cleansing" waged by the different communities in Iraq seems to be have ebbed, but that is no thanks to improved security as touted by the US military. It is because most the "ethnic cleansing" is over and many local communities are armed to defend themselves.
The problem needs to be addressed as a top priority by the government of Iraq as the international community because it heralds a major regional crisis. None of the countries hosting the Iraqi refugees, mainly Syria and Jordan, is in a position to offer even the basic facilities to its guests, most of whom live in abject poverty and misery. It is only a matter of time before their frustration explodes into unpredictable consequences. Furthermore, an entire generation of Iraqis is growing up with threadbare connections with their homeland.
Here is an excerpt from a letter that the Refugee International agency sent to US President George W Bush early this year.
"Iraqi refugees are overwhelming the basic infrastructure of Iraq’s neighbors, in particular Jordan, Syria and Lebanon, raising concerns about the potential for further destabilization of the region. Iraqis have no legal work options in most host countries and are increasingly desperate and in need of humanitarian assistance. Iraqis face challenges in obtaining food, and have trouble accessing host countries’ health and education systems. Women and children are increasingly vulnerable, and a sense of frustration, despair, and abandonment permeates communities of displaced Iraqis throughout the region."
Indeed, it is not only Refugee International but also most other refugee aid groups have underlined the US responsibility to help solve the problem.
The US, which led the invasion of Iraq and continues to occupy the country, should lead the effort to find an early solution to the crisis. It would be shear irresponsible behaviour if it continues to argue that it is a Iraqi government problem. No matter how hard the US tries to look the other way, the people of Iraq and of the Arab World at large and indeed the international community would never forget that it was the US which created the Iraq problem to start with.

Spare the world lectures on rights

July 18, 2008

Spare the world lectures on rights

AMNESTY International's call for the immediate release of a Canadian citizen being held at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, has brought attention to the brutality with which the US treats those held in detention but also the indifference to conventions on treatment of minors.
It might not be surprising to the world — which has seen the images from Abu Ghraib in Iraq — that the US authorities have little time to respect human rights when it comes to people from this part of the world. But the case of Canadian Omar Khadr takes the abuse of rights to new heights.
The torture to which Omar Khadr was subjected to at Guantanamo was exposed when a Canadian court ordered Canadian intelligence to surrender videos of the teenager being questioned. Khadr was under 15 when he was captured by US forces in Afghanistan and was 16 when the video was taken as he was being questioned by Canadian intelligence agents in 2003. Khadr, who is of Egyptian roots, is facing charges of killing an American soldier with a grenade during fighting in Afghanistan. He was taken from the battlefield badly wounded and near death.
In the video-footage released by his lawyers, then-teenage captive sobs and repeatedly cries, "Help me." That is only a scratch on the surface.
According to his own account, reported by Amnesty International, “during interrogations a bag was placed over his head and US personnel brought military dogs into the room to frighten him.” He was “not allowed to use the bathroom and was forced to urinate on himself.” Like many other prisoners, he was also hung from his wrists, and “his hands were tied above a door frame and he was forced to stand in this position for hours.” An article in Rolling Stone, in August 2006, added further details, noting that he was “brought into interrogation rooms on stretchers, in great pain,” and was “ordered to clean floors on his hands and knees while his wounds were still wet.”
If this is the way the authorities treat a teenager in Guantanamo, it does not need much imagination how they treat adults.
That is not all. The US authorities designated Khadr in November 2005 as one of 10 Guantánamo detainees to be tried by a military commission, which is "empowered" to try detainees and even pass the death sentence using secret evidence that would never be revealed to either the detainees or their government-appointed defence lawyers.
Amnesty International's argument is very clear.
"The treatment of Omar Khadr throughout his detention violates the USA’s obligations under international law, which requires that in all actions concerning children the best interests of the child must be a primary consideration," it says.
"No one who was a child at the time of their alleged crime should be tried by military commissions, which have no juvenile justice provisions whatsoever," the group said. "Omar Khadr should either be repatriated and tried in Canada by an ordinary court or released."
Regardless of the charge against Khadr and of the circumstances of his capture in Afghanistan, the US authorities should have treated him like a juvenile. His age might not have made a difference to the US authorities, but it did to lawyers and human rights groups and that is why the Bush administration finds itself again facing charges of abusing the rights of a minor.
The US could perhaps argue that since it has not ratified the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child, it is free to violate the human rights of juveniles in its "war on terror." It is highly unlikely that Washington would heed the call for Khadr's release from the Bay.
But the posture surely deprives the sole superpower of the world of any right to assume the high moral ground and lecture others on how to respect human rights.